


Ameliorate

by acid_and_oil (orphan_account)



Category: Danny Phantom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 10:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14423445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/acid_and_oil
Summary: You attend Caspar High, class of 2021. You are attending an assembly addressing bullying. You sort of tune everything out until you hear the third speaker. Mr. Dash Baxter, class of 2009.





	Ameliorate

You are a student at Casper High. Class of 2021. The entire freshman class has been caroled into the auditorium for some presentation. You are a little peeved to be missing class. You've been reading The Odyssey. You are at least grateful that it is an actual event this time, and not a ghost lock down drill. Which, yes, is a real thing in this town. Because Amity Park. Admittedly, the topic is probably an important one. Anti-bullying. But after the second speaker steps down, are skeptical about how much good listening to a parade of out-of-touch adults talking about avoiding peer pressure and being kind is going to help. And you could be reading about Circe turning men into literal pigs. 

On the subject of literature class, your teacher walked onto the stage with a microphone. "I am proud to introduce our last speaker of the day. You may know him from his role in the movie 'I Was a Teenage Blowfly'." the title is vaguely familiar, but you can't say you've seen it. "Before that, I had the pleasure of teaching him in my class, Mr. Dash Baxter."

[](http://tinypic.com?ref=35ap2kj)

The third speaker takes the stage. He's a tall, broad-shouldered man. Blond hair. Probably in his late twenties. You wonder if being a b-rate horror actor makes this guy the second most famous alumi your school has. Everyone knows that the first famous one is Danny Phantom. 

Mr. Baxter thanks Mr. Lancer and takes the microphone. "If any of you are wondering, no, that man never had any hair." This joke seems a little off-place for an anti-bullying platform, but your literature teacher takes it in stride, and it garners the speaker a few laughs. "You'll have to forgive me. I don't normally speak at these sorts of things, but it felt important. You see, bullying is something with which I am unfortunately familiar with."

You wonder what Mr. American Dream up there was ever bullied for.

"You see, like Mr. Lancer said, I used to be a student here, too. Class of 2008. I played basketball, and was quarterback of the football team." 

At this point, someone in the audience enthusiastically whooped "Go Crows!" and Mr. Baxter had to wait until the laughter died down to continue. 

"My parents were pretty well-off. I was dating a cheerleader. I had my group of football buddies, an absolutely adorable dog. From an outside perspective, you could say that my life was pretty much made. There was another thing about me, though, that nobody else knew at the time. I am gay." He paused, either for effect, or to let this information sink in.

" There is certainly still issues and struggles that these people face still today, but equal rights and acceptance for those in the LGBTQ plus community has come a long way since i was a teenager. Back in 2004, when i was your age, same-sex marriage was illegal here in Illinois. It was in every state except Massachusetts. Now, you may think that I am here to tell you that I was being bullied."

That is where you had figured this was going, yes. 

The man took a deep breath. "I wasn't. I made sure that i wasn't."

Was that this man's platform? Some kind of coping technique to make you less of a target?

"I made sure that I tore other people down before they could get to me."

Oh.

"I was a mean kid. I can say that now. I picked on other kids, kids i didn't understand. Kids that i thought i could draw attention to, and then maybe everyone wouldn't talk about how i listened to boy bands, or notice that i looked at my team mates a little too long in the locker room. It was wrong."


End file.
